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Vaseekaran Sivarajasingam BMSc (Hons) BDS PhD FDSRCS(Eng) FDSRCS(OS) FDSRCPS FHEA

Professor Vaseekaran Sivarajasingam

(he/him)

BMSc (Hons) BDS PhD FDSRCS(Eng) FDSRCS(OS) FDSRCPS FHEA

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Media commentator

Teams and roles for Vaseekaran Sivarajasingam

Overview

I am the Head of School of Dentistry at Cardiff University, and Clinical Director, University Dental Hospital, Cardiff and Vale University Heath Board (CAVUHB).

As Head of School, I provide strategic leadership for Wales only School of Dentistry, working in partnership with colleagues across Cardiff University, NHS Wales and external stakeholders to deliver excellence in education, research, innovation and clinical service. My priorities include developing dental education, workforce, strengthening interdisciplinary research, enhancing international partnerships and ensuring the school continues to make a significant contribution to improving oral health and reducing health inequalities in Wales and beyond.

As Clinical Director of the University Dental Hospital, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, I lead the strategic planning and delivery of comprehensive secondary and tertiary dental services. Working closely with clinical, academic and managerial colleagues, I oversee the integration of patient care, education and research to ensure high-quality, safe and sustainable services. Patient safety, quality improvement, innovation and co-production with patients and stakeholders are central to my leadership.

As Professor of Oral Surgery and Honorary Consultant Oral Surgeon at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board my clinical and academic interests are in Oral Surgery, including service innovation, workforce development, conscious sedation, patient safety and the delivery of high-quality oral surgery services across Wales. I have led national initiatives to improve access to care, including the development of community-based oral surgery services, CAVUHB.

I am also a member of Cardiff University's internationally recognised Violence Research Group (VRG), where my research focuses on violence surveillance, injury prevention and public health. Together with colleagues, I established the National Violence Surveillance Network (NVSN) a pioneering public health surveillance system that has transformed the measurement of serious violence across England and Wales by integrating emergency department data. In 2026, the Violence Research Group was awarded the Royal Statistical Society Prize for Trustworthiness, Quality and Value in recognition of this work. The award recognised the NVSN's robust statistical methodology, transparent governance and its significant impact on public policy, research and violence prevention by providing nationally representative data that complements police-recorded crime and the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

Previously, I contributed to the Violence Research Group being recognised as world leading in the Research Assessment Exercise, contributing to the award of the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education (2010) for contributions to Medicine, Health and Welfare, and the Group's nomination for the Times Higher Education Award (2012).

 

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Articles

Book sections

Conferences

Monographs

Research

I am a member of the Violence and Society Research Group (VRG) and contributed to VRG being identified as 'world leading' in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, winning the 'Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education' for contributions to Medicine, Health and Welfare (2010) and being nominated for the prestigious Times Higher Education award (2012). I developed collaborations with external partners, including 167 Emergency Departments (EDs) in England and Wales, all four police forces in Wales, Office for National Statistics, Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) and the Home Office. The development and expansion of the group has been facilitated by the close links which I formed with Cardiff Business School, School of Social Science and the Department of Primary Care and Public Health to study community violence using injury data. This interdisciplinary collaboration between academics and clinicians, which has been formalised within VRG, has been an important driver in translating my research findings into policy, potentially for better patient care and community benefit. For e.g. modelling violence-related injury has identified risk/protective factors amenable for interventions such as alcohol price, which is driving government policy on alcohol pricing. I am an advisor for the 'Welsh Government Panel on Substance Abuse' and my research on alcohol price and violence informed the Welsh Public Health White Paper (2014) 'Listening to you – Your health matters'.

My research trajectory, to tackle interpersonal violence and alcohol misuse, led to the development of the prototype network of Emergency Departments in England and Wales to collate, share injury data and disseminate findings. As Founder and Director of this National Violence Surveillance Network, I have made significant contributions to violence surveillance over the past two decades. I was awarded the International Research Prize for work on violence epidemiology. As Clinical Lead in many of the projects on tackling violence, which sit at the interface between clinical and academic research, I lead on idea generation, NHS ethics, patient recruitment and data quality and maximised opportunity for outputs to align with clinical practice.

As Divisional R&D Lead (2016-19), expert member Welsh Research Ethics Committee, (2017-19), Research Integrity Lead, (2017-), Dental School Research Ethics Officer (2016-) and Chair, Dental School Research Ethics Committee (2016-), I have facilitated links between University and Health Board researchers ensuring legal and ethical standards on research undertaken by students and staff.

Teaching

As Oral Surgery Programme and District General Hospital Lead, I have overall responsibility for the direction and development of Oral Surgery, a core Cardiff University BDS curriculum. I was elected Fellow, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (2018) for my contributions to post graduate Oral Surgery training and development in the UK. As Speciality Advisor (2016-), Training Programme Director and Chair, Speciality Training Committee (2013-19),  I lead Oral Surgery training in Wales for CCST. I am examiner, Intercollegiate Speciality Fellowship Examination (2019-23) and Diploma of Membership of the Joint Dental Faculties (Part 2; 2011-). I am fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Biography

News articles

RemakerSpace receives funding to collaborate with Cardiff University’s School of Dentistry on creating reusable training models for oral surgery.

RemakerSpace secures funding to develop sustainable dental training models

29 November 2024

RemakerSpace receives funding to collaborate with Cardiff University’s School of Dentistry on creating reusable training models for oral surgery.

Contact Details

Email [email protected]
Telephone +44 29225 10608
Campuses University Dental Hospital, Room 5F.06 Postgraduate Research Office, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XY
RemakerSpace receives funding to collaborate with Cardiff University’s School of Dentistry on creating reusable training models for oral surgery.

RemakerSpace secures funding to develop sustainable dental training models

29 November 2024

View all news articles